Combination fish lure and swivel

ABSTRACT

A combination fish lure and swivel combined so that a sizable portion of the swivel appears as a fish egg in the open mouth of the lure. The lure comprises a one-piece, plate-like body whose front portion contains a generally V-shaped slot, the wide end of which faces the front end of the body. The front end is bent laterally to one side, the bent portion including the wide end of the slot, with the portion of the body originally contained within the slot now extending from the other side to form an abutment, thus leaving an opening within the body. Pull means extends through the abutment and retains a bead which substantially fills the opening.

United States Patent [1 1 11] asons Harris June 112, 1973 [54]COMBINATION FISH LURE AND SWIVEL 936,663 2/1948 France 43/4251 [76]Inventor: Ewell J. Harris, c/o Sunset Mobile m Route BOX 135A PrimaryExaminerAntonio F Guida Adnan Mlch- Assistant ExaminerJames H. Czerwonky[22] Fil d; June 1 1971 Attorney-William P. Hickey [21] Appl. No.:153,528

[57] ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl 43/42.12, 43/42.l8, 43/4253 [51] Int. Cl A011:85/04 A combination fi h lure and Swive| combined so that a [58] Fieldof Search 43/4212, 42.2, 42.5, sizable portion of the Swivel appears asa fish egg in [he 43/4251 42-18, 42-53 open mouth of the lure. The lurecomprises a onepiece, plate-like body whose front portion contains a[56] References C'ted generally V-shaped slot, the wide end of whichfaces UNITED STATES PATENTS the front end of the body. The front end isbent laterally 3,439,443 4/1969 Weimer 43 42.12 to one Side, the bentPortion including the Wide end Of 1,822,785 9/1931 Petrie the slot, withthe portion of the body originally con- 347,122 10/1886 McHarg... tainedwithin the slot now extending from the other 576,680 2/1397 Kittle sideto form an abutment, thus leaving an opening 2 g p within the body. Pullmeans extends through the abuturner 2,562,743 7 1951 Schindler et al 434212 g f a bead wh'ch Substantlany fills the FOREIGN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS 911,301 3/1946 France 43/42.]9 1 Claim, 4 Drawing FiguresCOMBINATION FISH LURE AND SWIVEL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Artificialfish lures are usually used in conjunction with a swivel that isattached to the front of the lure and extends forwardly thereof for anappreciable distance. Fish line that is wound upon a reel and lateruncoiled from the reel may in some instances tend to untwist, andwhensuch a line is fastened to a lure, it may cause a undesired rotation ofthe lure in the water. In other instances, the lure may be designed torotate in the water and swivel means must be provided to prevent therotation of the lure from twisting the fish line to which it isattached.

The conventional swivels that are used for the purpose of connecting thefish line and lure in a manner permitting either one or both fromrotating relative to the other are long extensive structures whichextend an appreciable distance ahead of the lure".

An object of the present invention is the provision of a new andimproved combination fish lure and swivel which can be inexpensivelyproduced and which has a more natural appearance to the fish than does alure preceeded by the conventional swivel structure BRIEF DESCRIPTION OFTHE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a fish lure embodyingprinciples of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the embodiment of fish lure shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an end view of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, takenapproximately on the line 3-3 of FIG. ll;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken approximately on the line4-4 of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Conventional swivels extendforwardly from the lure by a appreciable distance and present anunnatural appearance to the fish which detracts from its alluringnature, or even scares or warns the fish of impending danger. Accordingto the invention, the swivel portion of the invention comprises a roundbead 8 having a hole therethrough, and which is usually brightlycolored, as for example orange, pink or red. This bead 8 is positionedin the front portion of the lure which front portion is arranged tosimulate the mouth of a fish or other marine creature. The bead ispositioned in the simulated mouth, so that it appears that the lure isafter or has a fish egg, and particularly a salmon egg in its mouth. Thelure 10 can be of any suitable type as for example a plug, spinner,spoon etc., and has particular advantages when it is combined with alure which revolves as it passes through the water. The lure 10 shown inthe drawing is a thin metal, one-piece sheet that is contoured togivethe appearance, at least from the side, of a swimming fish. The luremight be bent so that it wobbles from side to side to simulate aswimming fish rather than rotate. Regardless of the configuration of themain portion, however, the front of the lure has an opening that isshaped to simulate the open mouth of the fish. Such openings willusually be wide at the front, and will narrow at the rear, so that theopening I2 has the general appearance of a horizontal triangle. Anabutment 14 is provided at the front of the mouth 12 and has alongitudinal hole 16 therethrough to receive the pull means 18 for thelure. In the embodiment shown, the pull means 18 is a thin wire thefront end of which is coiled into a loop 20, and the rear portion ofwhich extends through the opening 16 and through an opening 22 in thebead 8. The back end of the wire 18 is turned laterally at 24 as toprovide securing means for a bead or drop of epoxy resin 26 whichprevents the withdrawal of the wire 18 from the bead 8. Any suitablemeans can be used to prevent the withdrawal of the wire 18, and in someinstances the bead 26 can be solder or other metal. Alternatively, awasher or deformed portion of the wire 18 can be used in place of thebear 26.

The abutment 14 can be of any suitable construction but is preferablymade to appear as top and bottom lips or beaks as is natural in somekinds of fish. In the embodiment shown in the drawing, the abutment 14is inexpensively produced by bending a portion of the sheet materialthat is forwardly of the mouth 12 at right angles to the body of thelure. In addition the mouth 12 is formed by shearing a generallyV-shaped slot through the sheet material with the wide portion of thebead directly behind the abutment 14, so that the V-shaped material sosheared can also be bent laterally, By shearing the Vshaped slot beforethe front portion of the sheet material is bent laterally, a singlebending operation will bend the front portion of the sheet material inone lateral direction and swing the rear sheared portion in the oppositelateral direction. The opening 16 is preferably made in the sheetmaterial before the front portion of the sheet material is bentlaterally, and the opening 16 may be made either before or after theshearing operation which forms the outline of the mouth. The generaloutline of the lure can also be stamped at the same time that theopening 12 is sheared. The lure 10 of course will have the usual hook 28fixed to the rear portion thereof, and this can be simply done bypassing a ring 30 through the usual loop 32 in the front of the book 28and through an opening 34 in the rear of the lure 10. The opening 34 canbe made at the same tinie that theopening 16 is produced.

It will now be seen that the present invention provides a lure andswivel with the appearance of a marine 1 creature swallowing an egg, andparticularly a salmon egg. This appearance is presented to fish oneither side of the lure, and because the lure rotates slowly, theappearance will also be presented to fish that are below and above thelure. Fish so attracted will usually let the lure pass without makingmenacing motions toward the lure, and will thereafter try to overtakethe lure from behind. From behind, the top portion of the lure has theappearance of a fin, and the lateral twist of the lower portion givesthe appearance of a body.

While the invention has been described in considerable detail, I do notwish to be limited to the particular embodiment shown and described, andit is my intention to cover hereby all novel adaptations, modificationsand arrangements thereof which come within the practice of those skilledin the art to which the invention relates.

I claim:

I. A fish lure comprising: a flat thin one-piece platelike body memberhaving front and rear ends, said front end of said-plate-like bodymember having a substantially axially aligned generally V-shaped slotformed internally therein with the wide end of the slot being adjacentthe front and of the body, and with the portion of said V-shapedabutment portion having a hole therethrough communicating with saidV-shaped fish mouth opening, a bead having exterior dimensionssubstantially equal to the interior dimensions of said opening, therebysubstantially filling said fish mouth opening, and pull means extendingthrough said hole in said abutment portion and secured to said bead.

1. A fish lure comprising: a flat thin one-piece plate-like body memberhaving front and rear ends, said front end of said platelike body memberhaving a substantially axially aligned generally V-shaped slot formedinternally therein with The wide end of the slot being adjacent thefront and of the body, and with the portion of said body member locatedwithin the confines of said slot forming a generally V-shaped abutmentportion, said front end of said plate-like body member being bentlaterally to one side of said plate member, said wide end of said slotextending into said laterally bent portion, said generally V-shapedabutment portion extending in the opposite direction from said laterallybent portion to form a similarly configured, generally V-shaped fishmouth opening in said body member, said V-shaped abutment portion havinga hole therethrough communicating with said V-shaped fish mouth opening,a bead having exterior dimensions substantially equal to the interiordimensions of said opening, thereby substantially filling said fishmouth opening, and pull means extending through said hole in saidabutment portion and secured to said bead.